{"id":115385,"date":"2023-01-03T21:50:37","date_gmt":"2023-01-04T02:50:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/?p=115385"},"modified":"2023-01-03T21:50:37","modified_gmt":"2023-01-04T02:50:37","slug":"live-comedy-creation-before-your-very-eyes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/?p=115385","title":{"rendered":"LIVE COMEDY CREATION BEFORE YOUR VERY EYES"},"content":{"rendered":"

The SteelStacks Improv Festival returns for its 10th<\/sup>\u00a0year<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

BETHLEHEM, Pa.\u2014 The 10th<\/sup>\u00a0annual SteelStacks Improv Comedy Festival (SSICF) returns\u00a0live<\/strong>\u00a0to the Fowler Blast Furnace Room Friday, Jan. 27 and Saturday, Jan. 28. The two-day marathon festival features national improv groups, solo acts and workshops taught by this year\u2019s headliner\u00a0Raaaatscraps.<\/a>\u00a0Tickets are now on sale\u00a0<\/a>for\u00a0ArtsQuest Members<\/a>\u00a0and the\u00a0general\u00a0public.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re thrilled to bring the 10th annual SteelStacks Improv Comedy Festival back to its traditional format,\u201d ArtsQuest Senior Programming Director Ryan Hill said. \u201cThe energy that performers from all over the country bring to Bethlehem to celebrate improv comedy -and each other- is truly what makes this festival so special.\u201d<\/p>\n

This year\u2019s SSICF headliner is New York based Raaaatscraps.\u00a0Led by former Upright Citizens\u2019 Brigade Artistic Director Shannon O\u2019Neill, Raaaatscraps, is a reimagining of UCB\u2019s flagship show \u201cASSSSCAT\u201d with a team of rotating players.\u00a0For each performance a guest monologist shares their true-life stories used to inspire the cast who create fully improvised scenes on the spot. Former guest monologists include Gloria Steinem, Kevin Bacon, Ilana Glazer and so many more. The cast\u2019s rotating members, Shannon O\u2019Neill, Sebastian Conelli, Bridgette Rizkalla and Connor Ratliff can be found everywhere from \u201cBroad City\u201d to \u201cMarvelous Ms. Maisel,\u201d \u201cSuccession,\u201d \u201cBlack Mirror\u201d and multiple Marvel movies.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are so excited to headline this year\u2019s festival,\u201d Shannon O\u2019Neill said. \u201cWe love to be around people who love improv and hopefully we will infect some noobs while we are at it.\u201d<\/p>\n

The two-day improv marathon begins its 2023 run with its classic, opening \u201cYes and\u2026\u201d ceremony Friday, Jan. 27. Teams hailing from Toronto, ON to New York City and our very own Lehigh Valley-based backyards will be featured in the 10th annual festival. A variety of comedic styles will entertain the crowds from the tarot inspired \u201cWhatever Fate Decides\u201d to the solo \u201cI Am the Show.\u201d Looking for something a bit meta, enjoy the art-inspired artform with comedian Torrey Shineman, performing spontaneously crafted poetry in \u201cMashed POET-atoes,\u201d musically centered \u201cHeavy Rotation\u201d and famous works of visual art inspired team, \u201cART.\u201d<\/p>\n

In addition to closing the festival Saturday night Raaaatscraps will be hosting workshops throughout the weekend. For tickets and to view the full schedule visit\u00a0steelstacks.org<\/a>.<\/u><\/p>\n

Raaaatscraps cast<\/strong><\/p>\n

Shannon O\u2019Neill, host and founder of Raaaatscraps can be found on episodes of \u201cBroad City,\u201d \u201cHigh Maintenance,\u201d \u201cDifficult People,\u201d \u201cThe Chris Gethard Show,\u201d and as the lead in the true-crime docu-series \u201cHow to Fix a Drug Scandal\u201d on Netflix portraying Sonja Farak.<\/p>\n

Sebastian Conelli is comedian from Staten Island and a \u201ccawfee\u201d from Dunkin\u2019 kind of guy.\u00a0He has appeared as a blue-collar worker on TV shows such as \u201cSearch Party,\u201d \u201cThe Last OG,\u201d and \u201cThe Detour.\u201d Conelli also hosts a podcast called \u201cLoud About Nothing\u201d from his mother\u2019s basement.<\/p>\n

Bridgette Rizkalla is a writer and comedian born and based in Brooklyn. Her standup has been featured on \u201cVulture,\u201d \u201cElite Daily,\u201d \u201cHuffPost\u201d and \u201cFunny or Die.\u201d If you text her in full sentences, she will think you are mad at her.<\/p>\n

Connor Ratliff is an actor\/comedian and can be seen in \u201cThe Marvelous Mrs. Maisel,\u201d \u201cSearch Party,\u201d \u201cThe Blacklist\u201d and is the creator of the critically acclaimed podcast, \u201cDead Eyes.\u201d He\u2019s been doing comedy in NYC for more than 10 years, including \u201cThe George Lucas Talk Show,\u201d the livestream version of which has been described as “The Internet’s Coolest Talk Show” and “The Worst Podcast Ever Made.\u201d<\/p>\n

About ArtsQuest<\/strong>
\nArtsQuest\u2019s<\/a>\u00a0mission is to provide access to exceptional artistic, cultural and educational experiences using arts and culture as key elements of economic development for our urban communities. ArtsQuest\u2122 supports this mission via the presentation of performing and visual arts, film, arts education classes and outreach, youth programming and cultural events.<\/p>\n

The ArtsQuest Comedy program, in existence since the opening of the ArtsQuest Center at SteelStacks in April 2011, includes the Lehigh Valley\u2019s only year-round comedy class program, the SteelStacks Improv Comedy Festival, and 100-150 free and ticketed shows a year. It is overseen by Senior Programming Director Ryan Hill and Programming Specialist Addyson Young, who serve as co-directors of the SSICF alongside ArtsQuest Senior Marketing Director Jon Lunger.<\/p>\n

Through festivals such as its flagship event,\u00a0Musikfest<\/a>; the\u00a0Banana Factory Arts Center<\/a>;\u00a0and the ArtsQuest Center at\u00a0SteelStacks<\/a> arts and cultural campus, ArtsQuest\u2019s\u00a0programming reaches more than 1.9 million people annually. The organization\u2019s programs and events, approximately 50% of which are free to attend, have a combined economic impact of more than $136 million annually in the region. ArtsQuest is a proud member of IFEA, the\u00a0International Festivals & Events Association<\/a>, NIVA, the\u00a0National Independent Venue Association<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0NATO<\/a>, the\u00a0National Association of Theatre Owners.<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The SteelStacks Improv Festival returns for its 10th\u00a0year BETHLEHEM, Pa.\u2014 The 10th\u00a0annual SteelStacks Improv Comedy Festival (SSICF) returns\u00a0live\u00a0to the Fowler Blast Furnace Room Friday, Jan. 27 and Saturday, Jan. 28. … Continue reading LIVE COMEDY CREATION BEFORE YOUR VERY EYES<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":115386,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[5717,69,482],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-115385","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bethlehem","category-in-the-valley","category-press-release-2"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/improv-comedy.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/115385"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=115385"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/115385\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/115386"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=115385"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=115385"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=115385"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}